DEPLOYregistry

Incident · Injury

Cruise driverless robotaxi dragged a pedestrian ~20 feet in San Francisco

On the night of Oct 2, 2023, at the intersection of Market and 5th streets in San Francisco, a human hit-and-run driver struck a woman crossing the street, knocking her into the path of a driverless Cruise robotaxi (a Chevrolet Bolt AV). The Cruise vehicle braked but ran over the pedestrian and, failing to detect that she was trapped underneath, attempted a pull-over maneuver — dragging her approximately 20 feet to the curb at about 7 mph. The woman suffered severe injuries and was hospitalized for months. The incident became the most consequential robotaxi safety event in US history, not only for the crash but for Cruise's subsequent failure to disclose the dragging to regulators. Cruise's initial NHTSA report and a same-day verbal briefing omitted the secondary movement and dragging; the omission was characterized by federal prosecutors as rendering the report inaccurate and incomplete. The fallout: the California DMV suspended Cruise's driverless permits and the CPUC suspended its testing permit within ~3 weeks; Cruise pulled all driverless vehicles off the road nationwide; CEO Kyle Vogt resigned in Nov 2023; and the company faced penalties from four directions — a $112,500 CPUC settlement, a $1.5 million NHTSA civil penalty (consent order), a $500,000 federal criminal fine via a DOJ deferred prosecution agreement for filing a false report, and a reported $8-12 million settlement with the injured pedestrian. GM stopped funding Cruise's robotaxi business in Dec 2024.

Occurred 2023-10-02 · Cruise AV (Chevrolet Bolt) at San Francisco · Cruise

Sources (6)

  1. TechCrunch — CPUC ruling, sequence of events, omission of dragging · https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/04/cruise-faces-fines-in-california-for-withholding-key-details-in-robotaxi-accident · 2023-12-04
  2. Repairer Driven News — $112,500 CPUC settlement; DMV suspension; CPUC license revocation · https://www.repairerdrivennews.com/2024/08/26/nhtsa-ends-one-cruise-investigation-following-recall-of-fleets-software/ · 2024-08-26
  3. CTOL — $8-12M victim settlement range; detail of omissions · https://www.ctol.digital/news/cruise-fined-1-5-million-pedestrian-accident-reporting-failure/ · 2024-09-30
  4. CBS — $1.5M NHTSA consent-order penalty; Chevy Bolt dragged woman ~20 ft at ~7 mph · https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/nhtsa-robotaxi-cruise-pay-penalty-failing-report-san-francisco-crash-involving-pedestrian/ · 2024-11-12
  5. DOJ (US Attorney NDCA) — Cruise deferred prosecution agreement, $500K criminal fine for false report · https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/cruise-admits-submitting-false-report-influence-federal-investigation-and-agrees-pay · 2024-11-14
  6. CBS — detailed account of the omission/false-report sequence · https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/cruise-automation-admits-false-report-sf-pedestrian-dragging/ · 2024-11-14

Response (1)

Cruise · operator · 2024-11-14

As reported by US Department of Justice (Nov 14, 2024): Cruise entered a deferred prosecution agreement and accepted responsibility for filing a false report to NHTSA, paid the CPUC ($112,500), NHTSA ($1.5M), and federal criminal ($500,000) penalties, and reached a reported $8-12M settlement with the injured pedestrian. The company suspended operations, recalled its fleet, and its CEO resigned; GM later defunded the robotaxi business.

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